Quilting Continues

Good morning, my friends. It looks like our weather might decide to warm up again. We're expecting warmer temperatures day by day, and we have a plan to plant our vegetable garden later this week. It's going to be a small garden this year. I'm sprouting zucchini and pickling cucumbers in the greenhouse at the moment. We'll also plant corn and green beans. You might remember our last garden when the critters bit the green beans off at ground level, killing every single plant. We have an idea about how to thwart those little gnawing bastards for this garden. Also, I'll be planting lots of sunflowers and zinnias. I really love the sunflowers. I enjoy their flowers, and I like the fact that the birds can eat the seeds after they're bloomed out.

Okay, so let's just look at yesterday's sewing efforts, shall we? The day started with me quilting another row on the Homestead quilt. This first block is called Corn & Beans.

Here's how that looks from the back.

Next was a Friendship Star.

Here's how that looks from the back.

Finally, a pinwheel. 

I guess I neglected to take a picture of the back of the pinwheel. 

From there, I spent some more time on the quilt binding. Now I've turned three corners. I'm close enough to the fourth corner, there's a good chance I'll finish this today.

From there, I checked on the seedlings in the greenhouse. Everything is looking fine there. Taking a walk around, the Joker peony is still going strong. It came through the recent rains with flying colors.

My money's on this Coral Sunset peony to be the next to bloom. Maybe today...

My friend, Sue, has one of the Coral Sunset peonies. Hers bloomed weeks ago.

I noticed flowers are forming on the hydrangeas. We're down to just 2-1/2 hydrangeas from the five we had originally. The half hydrangea is so small, it may not survive. We'll have to enjoy the ones we have.

The plums are larger and more obvious now. We need a warm summer for these to ripen before we take off on our fall trip this year...assuming we take it. Gasoline will be the deciding factor. We're not so worried about the price as we are about availability.

The apple tree has apples now...a lot of apples. It's a small tree. It might need some support if all of these continue to grow and ripen.

Now, here's a surprise. We have a lilac that was planted by the original owner. It's in a shady spot, and it has never thrived. Some years, it's barely anything more than sticks and a few leaves. It has a pleasant shape, and so we just leave it to do what it will. This year, it has a flower.

Finally, I believe this is a burning bush...also planted by the original owner. It turns bright red in the fall. In the spring, it develops these tiny green flowers. The bees love it.

Today is going to go a little differently. There's a story to go with this. We've had a large telescope for many years. When we first got it, we took it with us when we traveled and used it in "dark sky parks." It was kind of a hassle...laptop computers involved, and such...and we lost interest in it. It hasn't been used in years. 

Recently, we decided to sell it, but discovered there isn't much market for something like that. In his wanderings, Mike discovered the Rose City Astronomy Club. (Portland is known as the "Rose City.") After communicating back and forth, Mike decided to join and attend their meeting tonight. I'm not interested in the meetings, but they have a place in Eastern Oregon where they hold "star parties." RVers are welcome. That sounds like great fun to me, and it'll give us a reason to use the telescope again.

Okay, so that means he'll be leaving before dinner, and so I won't be cooking tonight. While he's gone, I'm going to watch a documentary entitled, "Brats: Our Journey Home." 

It's a documentary featuring interviews with some 80 military brats, and narrated by Kris Kristofferson (himself a brat). It's something I'm intensely interested in, but Mike probably wouldn't be interested in at all. Wikipedia defines "military brats" as a US subculture saying: 

Although no exact figures are available, the U.S. Department of Defense estimates that approximately 15 million Americans are former or current military brats, including those who spent all or part of their childhood and/or adolescence in the lifestyle. This population includes an age range from less than 1 year old to over 90 years of age, since there have been military brats for generations. 

So, that'll be my entertainment this evening while he's gone, and I can get in a walk on the treadmill while I'm at it.

With all that going on, I'll have more time for sewing today. Probably I'll get started on the cutting for the Stair Steps project. Of course, I'll quilt another row of blocks for the Homestead quilt, and I'm hoping to finish off the quilt binding today. There are a couple of easy housekeeping chores on the calendar, but that won't take me very long. Sounds like a mostly sewing day to me. What could be better than that? Well...maybe winning the lottery, but I've heard you actually have to play to win. Darn. So many rules, so little time.

All righty then...off I go. You guys have a good day out there, ya hear?